Pierre Viret, L'Interim fait par dialogues. by Guy R. MermierReview by: Robert D. LinderThe Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Winter, 1987), pp. 595-596Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2540875 .

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Book Reviews 595

Pierre Viret, L'Interim fait par dialogues. Ed. Guy R. Mermier. Series 2: Romance Languages and Literature, vol. 14. New York: Peter Lang, 1985. pp. 365 + xxxix. $45.00.

Twenty-five years ago, Reformation scholars Robert Stupperich, Giovanni Busino, and Peter Fraenkel noted the lack of research on the so-called "second rank reformers" of the sixteenth century. In particular, Busino and Fraenkel pleaded for historians "to rediscover the minor reformers," such as first-generation Calvinist leader Pierre Viret (1511-71). They pointed out a number of areas in which Viret studies could proceed: his ecclesiology, his part in the struggle against heresy, his role in the propagation of French Protestantism, his influence in the spread of the Reformed faith throughout Europe, and his political thought to name several. (Stupperich in H. U. Delius, ed., Der Briefwechsel des Friedrich Mykonius 1524-1546, 1960, Preface; and Busino and Fraenkel, "Rediscovering the Minor Reformers," Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 1962, 24:611-19). Since that time, I have devoted myself to that task and would conclude that Viret was more than "a minor reformer," who, if not of the stature of Luther or Calvin, still belongs in the ranks of the second echelon Reformation leaders like Melanchthon, Zwingli, Farel, Cranmer, and Knox-men who established the Reformation locally and regionally and who often had a lion's share in the decisions which determined the general course of European history.

Guy Mermier's carefully prepared edition of Viret's L'Interimfait par dialogues of 1565 cor- roborates this view. With this volume, Mermier, Professor of Romance Languages at the Univer- sity of Michigan, has provided the scholarly world with ready access to one of Viret's key works. Perhaps more than any other, L'Interim reveals the Calvinist reformer's basic social and political ideas, which are all the more interesting since this was Viret's last known book, published only a few years before his death when he was a pastor-evangelist in the turbulent French city of Lyon during the months immediately following the first War of Religion in France in 1562-63.

As Mermier points out in his Preface, anyone who reads L'Interim will be struck by Viret's "biblical erudition and historical knowledge as well as by the force and vitality of his expression" (ix). Mermier also portrays Viret as a man of conviction and action, and this is well illustrated by the contents of L'Interim. In short, the last of Viret's more than fifty known books effectively dem- onstrates why he was one of the most popular and influential of the Reformation authors.

Mermier's edition of Viret's L'Interim makes available to the student of the French Reforma- tion a clean, easy-to-read copy of the work with modernized orthography and punctuation (with- out altering the original meaning or rhythm of the text) as well as a critical apparatus which enhances its usefulness. After a brief Preface, Mermier provides an Introduction based largely on the works of Jean Barnaud, Jacques Courvoisier and myself, and on Mermier's own critical insights as a specialist in sixteenth-century French language and literature. The Introduction cov- ers a multitude of matters calculated to elevate the reader's understanding of L'Interim: a brief account of Viret's life and career, a summary of his published works, a discussion of the historical antecedents of the concept of an "interim," and a short overview of the literary structure of Viret's book. This is followed by a useful summary of L'Interim, which Mermier construes as basically a plea for moderation. Next is an alphabetically arranged list of the main ideas contained in Viret's book along with page references to the Mermier edition of the text and occasional cross-references to published scholarly studies of.Viret.

An interesting and important section follows in which Mermier assesses the quality of the religious and political views expressed in L'Interim. He sees Viret as a man of prudence and mode- ration who promotes peace and respect for order. To him, the reformer is a medieval Augustinian who sees "justice as the only means to maintain and preserve peace" (xxxi). On the other hand, Mermier explains, Viret was a tough opponent who passionately believed in the righteousness of his cause and expressed his moderation as a practical measure in the context of a city continually on the brink of further civil strife. Although he exhorted patience, Viret also spoke in terms of a "just war" and gave his blessing to Protestant resistance to oppression and persecution (xxxi-xxxii).

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596 The Sixteenth Century Journal XVIII

Mermier next adds an excellent section on the book's literary style. In some ways prolix and certainly didactic, Viret's style was also sharp and engaging. As Mermier points out, Viret argued his case with the passion of a man who, to his last breath, held intensely to his faith. In so doing, he made extensive use of proverbial expressions, mental images, and metaphors.

Finally, Mermier in his Introduction explains which copy of L'Jnterim he used as a basis for this edition (one owned by the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library of the University of Michigan, which had been mis-shelved and only recently relocated), how he proceeded with his editorial work, and what principles he followed in establishing the text of this edition. He gives a physical description of the Michigan copy, including clues to prior ownership, and explains why he dropped Viret's marginal notations and incorporated them into his own footnotes. He also points out that the "errata" section of the original simply has been incorporated into his own critical text.

The Introduction is followed by the text of L'Interim itself (3-286), Notes, (287-328), a helpful glossary of sixteenth-century terms used by Viret (329-42), and a useful bibliography (343-51). Mermier's edition concludes with a section of reproductions of certain "documents" related to Viret and L'Interim (354-63). Among them is a photocopy of the title page of L'Interim and of a page of the original edition as well as some copies of drawings from Theodore Beza's Icones depicting Viret and Calvin and their co-worker Guillaume Farel.

As Mermier himself admits in his Introduction, the critical apparatus he provides is not nearly as complete as most scholars would like (xxxix). For example, in his notes, biblical allusions are seldom identified and the sources of Viret's historical citations are not established with preci- sion. Mermierjustifies this by pointing out that his critical edition was already too voluminous and that he wanted to make the text of this important work available as quickly as possible to the schol- arly world-refractory critical problems could be resolved later (xxxix).

In my own view, Mermier's critical apparatus is helpful but not totally satisfying for the rea- sons which he himself mentions. Moreover, some of his notes could be strengthened with refer- ences to more up-to-date and/or reliable sources. For example, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is not an adequate reference in a scholarly work of this sort (e.g., 303) and there are better sources on Anabaptism than the Dezobry-Bachelet Dictionnairegeneral (328, n. 43-see instead, for example, the work of G. H. Williams or W. R. Estep). It also would have been better to have used the more recent third edition of Harold J. Grimm's The Reformation Era, 1973, than the first edition, 1954 (see 293, 347). His bibliography includes J. W. Allen's older History of Political Thought in the Six- teenth Century, 1928, but not Quentin Skinner's more recent Foundations of Modern Political Thought, two volumes, 1978, and it misses Anne-Marie Salgat's Union Theological Seminary doc- toral dissertation on "Aspects of the Life and Theology of Pierre Viret," 1972. Most frustrating of all, there is no index. Finally, some would argue that this work would enjoy a wider circulation had its Introduction and critical apparatus been in English rather than French.

But these few shortcomings do not detract from the overall importance and usefulness of this volume. It is a welcome addition to my own bookshelf and belongs on the shelf of every research library and every student of the French Reformation as well.

Robert D. Linder Kansas State University

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